The notification came on a day when US President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing a safe haven to terrorists.

Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD)

JuD is the front organisation for the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attacks. It was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

Special project to connect all the border posts along the Indo-China border with roads

The government has undertaken a special project to connect all the border posts along the Indo-China border with roads. This was stated by Union Home Minister while reviewing the operational preparedness of a forward Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Border Out Post at Nelong in Uttarakhand.

While a number of border posts had already been connected with roads, many more would be linked soon.

Online portal NARI online poral – for the empowerment of women

Women and Child Development Minister inaugurated an online portal NARI in New Delhi for the empowerment of women.

The portal will provide easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women.

The portal – nic.insummarises over 350 government schemes and other important information.

NARI elaborates how the Government is focussed to economically empower women through schemes under the Direct Benefit Transfer.

The portal provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering these schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal.

Also, there are tips on nutrition, suggestions for health check-ups, tips for job search, investment and savings advice, information on crimes against women and reporting procedures, contacts of legal aid cells, adoption procedures and much more.

e-Samvad portal

The Minister also inaugurated e-Samvad portal developed to provide a platform for NGOs and civil societies to interact with the Ministry.

Eight core sectors expanded at the fastest pace in more than a year at 6.8 per cent

Eight core sectors expanded at the fastest pace in more than a year at 6.8 per cent in November 2017 on account of robust performance in segments like refinery, steel and cement.

According to data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the output of refinery products rose by 8.2 per cent, steel – 16.6 per cent and cement – 17.3 per cent on an annual basis in November. Crude oil and natural gas output too registered a positive growth.

The Coal output growth rate, however, recorded a negative growth during the month under review.

The output growth is the highest since October 2016, when these core sectors, also including fertilisers and electricity, had witnessed a 7.1 per cent rise.

United States has suspended its 255 million dollar military aid to Pakistan

White House has confirmed that the US does not plan to spend the aid committed in Financial Year 2016 in Foreign Military Financing for Pakistan at this time, saying the fate of such assistance will depend on Islamabad’s response to terrorism on its soil.

The confirmation comes on the same day President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing safe havens to terrorists in return for the 33 billion US dollar aid over the last 15 years.

Pakistan has summoned the US ambassador in the wake of the threat of cutting military aid.

The first proposal is related to procurement of 240 bombs, at a cost of 1 thousand 254 crore rupees from M/s JSC Rosonboron Exports, Russia.

These bombs, which fall under the category of Precision Guided Munitions, are used by Indian Air Force, IAF.

This procurement will address the deficiency of Precision Guided Munitions in the IAF arsenal, besides enhancing the offensive capabilities of the IAF.

E-commerce firms to mention expiry the date and customer care details along with MRP

The Centre has made it mandatory for e-commerce firms to print not only the Maximum Retail Price, MRP, on goods but also information such as expiry the date and customer care details.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry had made the amendments in this regard to the Legal Metrology (packaged commodities) Rules in June 2017.

The companies were given a six-month deadline to comply with the new rule.

The amendments were made to safeguard the interest of online consumers and for ease of doing business.

The government has finalized the scheme of Electoral Bonds

The government has finalized the scheme of Electoral Bonds, aimed at cleaning the system of political funding in the country.

The bonds will be a bearer instrument in the form of promissory note and will be an interest-free banking instrument.

The bonds will be issued and purchased from the specified branches of the State Bank of India for ten days in January, April, July and October.

They will be available in the multiples of one thousand, ten thousand, one lakh, ten lakh and one crore rupees.

The electoral bonds will not carry the name of the payee and have to be encashed only through a designated bank account.

They will have a life of only 15 days during which it can be used for making donation only to the registered political parties.

The scheme will bring transparency in the funding to the political parties.

“The political party will be filling its return to the Election Commission and there by indicating, how many total bonds it has received which donor gave to which political party. There will be clean money and a substantial significant amount transparency as against the present system of unclean money and no transparency.

The Parliament passed the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017

The Parliament passed the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017 with the Rajya Sabha approving it.

The Bill seeks to amend the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981.

It allows the Central government to increase the authorised capital of the Bank to 30 thousand crore rupees from 5 thousand crore rupees.

The capital can be increased further by the government in consultation with the RBI.

Currently the Central government is holding 99.6 per cent share of the bank and the rest is with RBI.

NABARD is responsible for providing and regulating facilities like credit for agricultural and industrial development in the rural areas.

Parliament has also passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017 with its approval by Rajya Sabha.

The Bill prohibits certain persons from submitting a resolution plan in case of defaults.

They include wilful defaulters, promoters or management of the company having an outstanding non-performing debt for over a year.

It also has provisions to bar the sale of property of a defaulter to such persons during liquidation.